NBA Finals…of farming

Jun 04, 2015

Ohio vs. California

It’s time for the National Basketball Association (NBA) to take center stage and start their championship series tonight after the NHL had Wednesday night’s spotlight.

On the court, the Eastern Conference champion Cleveland Cavaliers will battle the Western Conference champion Golden State Warriors.

The first team to win four games will be presented with the Larry O’Brien trophy as the best team in the NBA.

Similar to the NHL’s Stanley Cup playoffs, analysts and experts have spent their time breaking down plays and coaching schemes to determine who has the advantage going into the series. Can Lebron James lift the Cavaliers to victory by himself? Will Steph Curry’s ability to shoot the 3-pointer be enough to lift Golden State to the championship?

An agricultural comparison is about to take place – between the two states represented in the series: California and Ohio.

?signals advantage for each team

	California	Ohio
NBA Team	Golden State Warriors	Cleveland Cavaliers
Number of farm operations	76,400 ?	74,500
Beef cows (as of Jan. 1, 2015)	600,000 ?	282,000
Milk production (Measured in Lb/Head)	23,785 ?	20,318
Total value of ag products sold	$42,627,472,000 ?	$10,064,085
Top commodity value	Almonds - $6,464,500,000 ?	Soybeans - $2,642,640,000
Average age of principal operator	60.1	56.8 ?
Value of aquaculture sales	$103,016,000 ?	$3,875,000
Total acres operated	25,500,000 ?	14,000,000

Based on the state agriculture comparison, the Golden State Warriors should beat the Cleveland Cavaliers pretty handily, however Ohio does have youth on its side.

Tell us your thoughts about how the two states compare to one another in basketball, or in hockey. Do you have a rooting interest?

Don’t forget to check out the Stanley Cup comparison between Illinois and Florida.

Video: A chain harrow is a game changer

Utilizing a rotational grazing method on our farmstead with our sheep helps to let the pasture/paddocks rest. We also just invested in a chain harrow to allow us to drag the paddocks our sheep just left to break up and spread their manure around, dethatch thicker grass areas, and to rough up bare dirt areas to all for a better seed to soil contact if we overseed that paddock. This was our first time really using the chain harrow besides initially testing it out. We are very impressed with the work it did and how and area that was majority dirt, could be roughed up before reseeding.

Did you know we also operate a small business on the homestead. We make homemade, handcrafted soaps, shampoo bars, hair and beard products in addition to offering our pasture raised pork, lamb, and 100% raw honey. You can find out more about our products and ingredients by visiting our website at www.mimiandpoppysplace.com. There you can shop our products and sign up for our monthly newsletter that highlights a soap or ingredient, gives monthly updates about the homestead, and also lists the markets, festivals, and events we’ll be attending that month.